Play review: 'Every Christmas Story Ever Told' is a fun, fast romp

Monday

Dec 4, 2017 at 2:52 PMDec 4, 2017 at 2:52 PM

The holiday comedy runs through Dec. 17 at Cape Fear Playhouse.

By John Staton StarNews Staff

On one level, Christmastime is all about stories, from the original Christmas story in the Bible and cherished family lore to the dozens of holiday movies, TV specials and songs we look forward to re-enjoying every year.

It's all very comforting and familiar, but there's a fine line between familiar and, well, boring. Which brings us to "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some!)", a comedic play by John K. Alvarez, Michael Carleton and James FitzGerald that Big Dawg Productions is staging through Dec. 17 at the Cape Fear Playhouse. Far from boring -- rather, its theme is getting out of the holiday story rut -- it's a light, enjoyable, fast-paced romp through well-known holiday stories from pop culture. The play contains a number of laugh-out-loud moments, and the audience I saw it with on Sunday loved the style of humor, which ranges from corny and silly to playful and naughty (PG-13 at worst). At one point, Jacob Marley is mistaken for Bob Marley, which is pretty much the level we're on here.

The show, which is directed David Lee Kent (a nom de guerre), opens with three actors -- Randy Davis, Anthony Lawson and Steve Vernon, each going by their own names -- as they embark upon a slavishly traditional production of "A Christmas Carol." But Davis and Lawson revolt against another hackneyed staging of "A Christmas Carol" with its "nice ghost, fat ghost, scary ghost" and well-worn story of redemption, somehow convincing the curmudgeonly Vernon -- who really, really wants to play Scrooge -- to embark on an expedition to "a Christmas extreme!" during which they blow through a dozen or more BHCs, or "beloved holiday classics."

Much of the first act is spent retelling animated special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and the Rankin-Bass TV special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," although for copyright (and comedic) purposes the latter has been rechristened "Gustav the Green-Nosed Reingoat." There's some audience participation -- including a game of Fruitcake A-Go-Go, which sends up the increasingly dated concept of gifting fruitcakes -- as well as a few sharp jabs at consumerism when "Twas the Night Before Christmas" is recast as "Twas the Day After Thanksgiving." We get a Peanuts dance and a few segues during which the actors tell us about weird holiday customs from around the world.

Davis, Lawson and Vernon share an easy chemistry born of being longtime friends and colleagues. In fact, they did this same play together three years ago. The whole show is pretty seamless, but Vernon, playing a holiday cynic who's also a very good sport, turns in a centering performance that's a wonderful compendium of exasperated sighs, incredulous looks and excellent voice work. He's the glue that holds the show together as he provides, among other things, pleasingly gruff tones for Scrooge and The Grinch. (They both sound kind of like Burgess Meredith.) The second act is largely given over to a comedic mash-up of "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life," with Vernon doing double duty as Scrooge and a wavery-voiced Jimmy Stewart/George Bailey.

Lawson is the show's comedic jack-of-all-trades, scoring laughs as the Charlie-in-the-Box from The Land of Misfit Toys, delivering a holiday tongue twister or two and, at one point, using a puppet of Kermit the Frog to play the Ghost of Christmas Present, intoning, as he introduces scenes from "It's a Wonderful Life," that "these are black and white images of what have been, and should not be colorized."

Davis gets to play the most childlike of the three actors, and he's endearing as both a man-child who still believes in Santa, an inflatable Frosty the Snowman and even as little blanket-toting Linus. Davis' best moment, though, might be when he delivers a voice-over as part of a "promo" for a fictional Christmas special with an endless number of famous and semi-famous guests, from Bob Hope to Bartles & James.

Throughout, Scott Davis' holiday-decor-strewn set and subtly effective lighting help set the moody.

A medley of famous Christmas carols to end the show feels a little perfunctory and breathless, but it's cheery nonetheless. If you've got a mischievous Christmas spirit, this one's for you.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

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